Cash Discounting and ATMs / A Win-Win for Both ATM Deployers and Your Merchant Customers

July 26, 2022

President & CEO

(800) 742-1852 O │ (443) 561-9846 M

store owner gettind paid, paying with credit card, business owner, women business owner

It’s no secret on-site ATMs offer merchants a wealth of benefits. As an ATM deployer you know having a machine in a business provides customers with convenient cash access, can be a draw for new customers and increase business traffic, too. And let’s not forget the additional revenue retailers receive from surcharged transactions.

But while there are still a large number of ATM users, the growth and reliance on debit, credit and other cashless transactions hasn’t slowed. If anything, consumers revel in their payment choice, juggling between cash, card and mobile depending on their personal preferences and general convenience.

paying with credir card, young man paying with credit card, women cashier, credit card

How Merchants Lose in the Payment Choice Battleground

Credit, debit and digital payments can often speed up transaction flow and allow merchants to process customers faster and more efficiently. But that swiftness comes at a cost. Specifically, the 2-4 percent service fee the card processing networks take out of every sale. And, while it hurts the retailer to lose 20 to 40 cents from every $1 pack of gum, the cost is the same no matter how high the value of the sale. So, why would any merchant eat those costs when they can encourage their customers to pay in cash instead?

Cash Discounting to the Rescue

In 2010 Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Law including the Durbin Amendment. This amendment allows merchants to provide discounts to consumers who choose to pay in ways other than by credit or debit cards. All the merchant has to do is make sure notices are clearly posted letting customers know they can pay less when they pay in cash. Referred to as a Cash Discount Program, most consumers are familiar with it if they have ever paid by card at the DMV or other government agency and many have run across it at gas stations that advertise lower costs if paid in cash.

With a Cash Discount Program in place, the percentage paid by the customer using a debit or credit card covers the fees associated with processing the payment. The merchant gets to keep the entire amount of each sale and customers paying in cash save on the sale.

Diversify Your Portfolio and Help Your Merchants Save Money

As an ATM deployer, have you been asked if you can assist your customers with credit and debit card processing a time or two… or three? Has COVID made you re-evaluate your ATM business?

By selling Merchant Services, ATM deployers can diversify their portfolio, earn additional recurring revenue and offer customers a valuable service that compliments the ATM.

Good for the Merchant… and Your Business

Customers who already visit their favorite businesses to use the ATM will be happy to take advantage of the discounts paying in cash provides them. But those customers who usually whip out a debit or credit card may take note of the money they could save if they just had some greenbacks on hand. And where better to convert that plastic into money saving cash but at the convenient on-site ATM?

In addition, providing cash discounting packaged with ATMs can help you better compete against larger providers by offering better surcharge rates - knowing you will make up the income from the point of sale. And best of all the merchant doesn’t have to deal with a faceless, big name deployer and card processor, but rather a local company they know and trust.

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About Yonas Marcos— Yonas Marcos is the President & CEO of Star Financial Services. Born and raised in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia, Yonas came to the U.S. for his college education and graduated from Towson University. In 2007 he founded Star and has grown it into a nationwide financial payment services provider that offers electronic and mobile payments, ATM equipment and processing, ATM branding, ATM outsourcing for financial institutions and mobile event payments. Connect with Yonas via email or on LinkedIn.